


The King's Treasure

by Lil_Coyote



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, F/F, Historical Fantasy, M/M, Romance, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-09 23:40:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lil_Coyote/pseuds/Lil_Coyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a king named Liam who seemed to have everything. His kingdom was wide with high mountains, verdant forests and fields laid out like a rolling patchwork quilt across fertile river valleys. The good king Liam’s subjects were content and he encouraged learning and the arts. Foreign emissaries to his court praised the king for the enlightened atmosphere.</p>
<p>Still, something was missing and the king was not content.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The King's Treasure

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in October of 2007 to Nekid_Spike on LJ.

Once upon a time, there was a king named Liam who seemed to have everything. His kingdom was wide with high mountains, verdant forests and fields laid out like a rolling patchwork quilt across fertile river valleys. The good king Liam’s subjects were content and he encouraged learning and the arts. Foreign emissaries to his court praised the king for the enlightened atmosphere.

Still, something was missing and the king was not content.

In an effort to please the king, his minister Sir Gunn found the world’s most amazing chefs and brought them to cook for the king. There were great and elaborate feasts with the most rare and delicious of delicacies. Culinary masterpieces fit for the Gods that could bring a tear to the eye of the most jaded courtier. 

Still, something was missing and the king was not content.

Despairing, his minister Dame Cordelia brought in caravans of sparkling jewels set in the most precious metals and bolt after bolt of sumptuous fabrics to surround the king with pleasures and delights. All who saw the palace declared how grand it was and how proud they were to have this as the center of their kingdom.

Still, something was missing and the king was not content.

His minister Sir Doyle scoured the great, wide kingdom and all the nearby kingdoms in search of the most beautiful and talented maidens. One by one they were presented with their unique gift; singing, weaving, herbal lore or diplomacy, to name a few. Each was greeted with courtesy, but each failed to find a place in the good king’s heart and was sent home with a dowry and the king’s blessing. He continued his solitary rule and the kingdom continued to flourish.

Still, something was missing and the king was not content.

Word came to his minister Sir Wesley of a fantastic creature living in the deepest, most mysterious part of the Old Woods. A magical beast of such beauty and grace to humble the greatest dancer with an ethereal voice that could sooth the most troubled brow with a single song. The ministers where overjoyed at finding a possible solution to their king’s ennui and arranged for a royal hunt to find and bring back the beast so that their good king would finally be content.

..oOo..

The court set out with a great fanfare of horns and showers of rose petals tossed from the walls of the royal castle. Each of the courtiers decked in gilded silks and furs and riding upon the finest white steeds. Among this shining company, the good king stood out, tall and broad shouldered with strong features and dark, shining hair, moderate in dress with his blue roan mount chosen for his clever ways rather than pedigree.

Townspeople and farmers lined the long road to watch and wave as the court passed through the kingdom, children stretching out hands for tossed coins. Each night tall, elaborate tents would be raised and great rugs lay out on the ground to protect gilded slippers as the courtiers ate from fine china plates and drank wine from jeweled cups. Liam watched every night with a sober expression from a throne brought along in it’s own wagon and set up in a place of honor as befitted a king at the head of a long table.

After many days of easy travel, the great green wall of the Old Woods appeared on the horizon. The party of laughing revelers quieted, even the most flippant sobered by the air of age and enigma radiated by the ancient, woody sentinels. Stealthy disturbances in the thick tangles of underbrush hinted at the abundant kind and volume of animals calling the forest home. King Liam sat all the straighter in his saddle as they neared the timeless stone arch that marked the only place a road led in or out of the trees and as they passed into the shadow of the woods, breathed deep of the damp, loamy air so full of life and smiled.

That night as Liam lay on his soft bed of velvet pillows, he dreamed. Of a sound just on the edge of hearing, but still sweet and wild enough to make his heart race in his chest. Of slipping out of his tall tent and past sleeping servants and courtiers. Of moving slowly through the moonlit forest in nothing but the skin he slept in so that nodding ferns tickled his arms, the wind kissed his cheek and the soft compost of leaves from countless seasons padded each step.

Stepping out of the brush and into a large clearing, the song became suddenly clear, though Liam did not understand the words. The wild, clear notes wrapped around him and into him, pulling him to the small spring-fed lake in the center and waking such a fire inside that he wondered how he was standing and not turned to ash on the spot. Large hands gently parted the curtain of slender reeds surrounding the pond and he stared transfixed by what was revealed.

..oOo..

A being of moonlight and wind perched on the edge of the water. Skin and hair as fair as fine opal, yet with a lean form humming with vital masculine energy. Most surprising of all were the great, snowy wings that unfurled as vibrant blue eyes lifted to meet the dark eyes of the dazed monarch. Full lips moved, continuing to shape the song that had lured Liam to this place. Slender arms stretched out, open and welcoming, drawing the dark-haired man into an eider-lined bower. As the stars wheeled by in the clear night sky, harmonies of bells sounded joy through the clearing in counterpoint to deeper cries of satisfaction.

Waking the next morning in the same bed he’d retired to, Liam despaired that the night spent with his beautiful Spike had been only a dream until his fingers found a tiny white feather tangled into his hair. All of his ministers, courtiers and servants spoke in puzzled whispers of the good king’s change in disposition. The stoic, serious young man smiled constantly and even joined in joking banter through the day as the nobles rode through the woods in search of the mystic creature they had come for. The best trackers accompanied them, yet no sign was found of anything beside deer, boar and other expected creatures of the woods.

The good king remained silent about his dream lover as the hunt for the mythical beast continued. The secret was too precious to his heart to share with others. However, his clever ministers noticed the change in their monarch and began to whisper among themselves of enchantments, for the woods where hoary with age and full of things lost to mortal memory. Determined to protect the king, they set servants to watch him and discovered he was leaving his bed each night. Their best woodsman was sent to follow him and twice the form of the king was lost as he moved deeper into the starlit woods, leaving him with nothing to report to the anxious ministers.

On the third night, the skilled woodsman was able to follow the tall, dark haired form to the clearing with its small silver lake in the middle. Lingering in the shadows, he observed the king as he walked to the edge of the lake, there to be welcomed by an enchanted creature that drew the tall man down into it’s nest among the reeds. The woodsman remained until the first hints of dawn began to lighten the sky and Liam pulled reluctantly away from his lover to return to his tent with a dazed smile and exhausted steps. After hearing the woodsman’s report, the ministers were shocked and fell into deep discussion concerning this unusual situation and how best to protect their king and the kingdom.

..oOo..

The next morning when King Liam returned to his tent with the intent of falling into his bed to sleep, his advisors confronted him instead. Each with a knowing expression in their eye, they argued and debated with their old friend. Pleading with him to consider how unsafe he was alone in the woods each night with the mysterious creature. Reminding him they could not stay here forever and would have to return to the castle soon. They buzzed in his ears of how his allies would see the dalliance when he had turned away countless eligible daughters. ‘Think of the kingdom!’ they pressed him. Until finally, with a heavy heart, he agreed to their plans that they promised would give him all he could want and guarantee his contentment as well as the security of his kingdom.

The woodsmen and hunters took nets of finest silk, gossamer and yet unbreakable, to the lake and there they waited. As the sun kissed the horizon, all looked up at the soft susurration of wings. The beauty of the pale being that alighted among the reeds touched even the hardest heart. Still they all were duty bound by orders and at a signal from the lead hunter, nets sailed out to cover the fair creature, denying it the escape of the wide blue sky.

With their quarry caught, the shining company turned to retrace their steps through the kingdom. A great, ornate golden cage held place of honor in the midst of the nobles. Decked with jewels and filigree, it still paled in comparison to what it held. Wide white wings mantled and angry hisses greeted any who came too close to the wild thing, even the good king. Though only for him did the sky-colored eyes turn sad with loss. No word or song passed the pink lips, his silence a reproach. The return was celebrated with great pomp and feasting, visitors from far and wide remarking how proud King Liam must be to own such a great prize. He welcomed an engagement with the lovely princess Darla that would double the size and wealth of the kingdom after the wedding. 

King Liam’s fame as a wise, just monarch grew, and his kingdom continued to prosper. However, the minister were all puzzled that the king who now truly had everything still did not seem to be content despite their promises. Day after day he would sit gazing longingly into the gilded cage that had been installed in his private garden. Day after day he listened as his ministers told him that he was doing what was best for the kingdom. Day after day he watched the one who had been his lover fade, for wild creatures are not meant for bars and cages, no matter how expensively made.

..oOo..

One night, restless from dark dreams, his feet carried him into his private garden. As if for the first time, he saw with clear eyes the snowdrift of feathers around the cage. The pallor of skin that had formerly held an opal hue. The fading light in blue eyes too long denied the freedom of viewing free skies. He realized in that moment what he had done to his lover by listening to his ministers and at the same moment knew that if he opened the cage, the lovely bird would fly free and not return. The choice was no choice at all and he smiled through his tears when a kiss brushed his cheek as powerful wings lifted his lover away from captivity and returned him to his true home.

The young monarch refused to speak of what happened that night, but it marked a turning point in his reign. While he still greatly respected his dear friends who advised him, he made a point to always think for himself from that point on. The wedding to the lovely but sly Princess was called off, much to her relief and later word came that she had run off in the night with her handmaiden Drusilla who had been her true love. Liam ruled patiently and well, though many remarked on the faint impression of grief that always haunted his eyes. For just as Liam had guessed, his feathered lover never returned and he made no further trips into the Old Woods.

Many long years passed in peace and in time the wise king found a worthy successor and so passed the crown from his head of silver to a younger head still held high and strong with eyes set enthusiastically to the future. Liam’s last years were quiet and he could often be found in his private garden where a fountain had replaced the golden cage. When he took to bed, surrounded by friends and family, he was satisfied with his life and the legacy he would leave behind. 

That night as the pure light of the full moon shone upon the still room, the great windows where he had stood as a young man to admire his kingdom opened soundlessly. One pale foot and then the other landed and a heartbreakingly sweet, nearly forgotten song woke Liam from his sleep. Slipping from the bed, he only had eyes for his long-gone lover who perched in his window. Waiting for him with a loving smile and one hand outstretched in invitation. He clasped the offered hand without hesitation, only looking over his shoulders once to see the venerable monarch now resting in final peace in his wide, empty bed. Then two beautiful, lithe forms sprang out of the window and into the air, opal and jet wings brushing with each sweep as they flew to freedom and eternity.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> I won an award. You could knock me over with a feather. I thought I was around the moon just being /nominated/! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou to all the judges at [Forbidden Awards](http://forbiddenawards.livejournal.com/)!
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> [](http://pics.livejournal.com/lil_coyote/pic/000f2fhz/)  
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